‘Bugs are Burning’-- Story of East European Collaboration in Holocaust

The Jewish Chronicle:

‘Bugs are Burning’ tells dark story of East European collaboration in Holocaust

by Morton I. Teicher
For The Chronicle

slideshow

Despite the fatuous claims of Holocaust deniers, the responsibility of the Nazis for killing 6 million Jews in the Holocaust has been well documented. A vast body of literature mournfully attests to this evil action.

Somewhat less known is the eager and enthusiastic help the Nazis received from their East European accomplices. This book was written to recount the often-zealous participation of eight East European countries and their non-Jewish residents in the barbarous attempt to annihilate the Jews of Europe. 

One author of “The Bugs are Burning,” this cry from the heart, is Sheldon Hersh, a New York physician who was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany. His parents managed to survive the Lodz Ghetto and several concentration camps before making their way to the United States. While Hersh’s mother found it difficult to talk about her wartime experiences, his father described how his Polish neighbors were willing partners with the Nazis. He was particularly bitter since he had served in the Polish army, fighting to safeguard the Poles who then turned on him and his fellow Jews. It was one of these Poles who gave the book its title by commenting that “the bugs are burning” as he watched the fiery destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto.  

Co-author Robert Wolf, a good friend of Sheldon Hersh, practices psychotherapy in New York and helped to guide the project of writing this book to its successful conclusion.

After a brief review of the high degree to which anti-Semitism was endemic in Eastern Europe, the authors turn to a country-by-country review that covers Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia and Poland. In each instance, the collaboration of local people with the Nazis is documented. In some instances, the German armies stood aside as residents of these countries carried out pogroms. In others, cooperation was provided to the Nazis so that they could achieve their nefarious intent. Convincing evidence and photographs are provided.

Some of the statistical information is overwhelming. For example, when World War II began Sept. 1, 1939, Poland had 3,474,000 Jews. By the end of 1945, there were fewer than 60,000 survivors. [More]

posted by: jrtelegraph

Comments

[Eric-Odessit]

To be fair, it should be also pointed out that the French Vichy Government was rounding up the Jews even without the Nazis asking for it and ran its own concentration camp in Drancy. When you add to that the Belgian and Dutch SS units, it becomes very hard to single out the Poles. The whole Europe bears the blame. In fact, the Poles come out much better than the French: at least they did not have some semblance of their own government.
Eric.